As expected, the Pittsburgh Steelers will not have to give up the 2015 conditional draft pick that was included in the trade with the Arizona Cardinals for tackle Levi Brown during the bye week due to the fact that the conditions were not met.
Cardinals beat writer Kent Somers reported Tuesday afternoon on Twitter that Brown would have had to been on the Steelers active roster for five games in order for the 2015 draft pick to come into play. With Brown now on injured reserve with a torn triceps suffered Sunday in pre-game warm-ups against the New York Jets, there is no way he will meet those conditions.
Also according to Somers, per NFL rules, when a team trades a player who spent the previous year on injured reserve, as Brown did, the player must be on his new team’s active roster for five weeks in order for draft pick conditions to be met.
In turn, that means the Steelers will not be receiving the conditional draft pick that was to come their way from the Cardinals as part of the trade.
The Steelers will, however, still be on the hook salary cap wise for the remaining base salary that Brown is owed this season, but thanks to the Cardinals already paying most of it as part of the trade, that hit is minimal.
Brown is scheduled to earn a $6 million base salary in 2014, but I think it is safe to say that he will be released during the offseason.
